Al Dronge and George Mann started the Guild Guitar Company in 1952. Their workshop was located in New York City and their first line of guitars consisted of a small selection of arch-top electric and flattop acoustic models. By 1955, Guild had introduced arch-top acoustics to their line up. Also in 1955, George Mann left the company and Al Dronge took total control.
To meet the needs of the popular Rock and Jazz musicians at the time, Guild made sure to build their guitars with carefully selected woods, top quality lacquers and hand wound pickups. This combination created a well-built guitar that produced appealing warm tones.
Business continued to grow and the demand for more guitars, lead to moving to a bigger factory in Hoboken, NJ. Guild continued to be successful throughout the 50's and 60's and caught the attention of great guitar players like Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Richie Havens, John Lee Hooker, Roy Orbison, Keith Richards, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.
By 1966 the Guild Company out grew its factory once again, so they moved to bigger plant in Westerly, RI. Guild was also sold in this year to electronics company Avnet Inc.
In 1995 the company was sold once again, this time to the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. They also moved their factory to Corona, CA.
This wouldn't be the last move for Guild because in 2004 they moved all of their acoustic production to Tacoma, WA due to the Fender buyout of the Tacoma Guitar Company. The Tacoma factory was a massive 42,000 square feet and by adding the Guild acoustic production there, made them one of the largest volume manufacturers of acoustic guitars in the United States.
Guild also produced some reissues of their popular 60's and 70's models that were sold under the brand names of Korea and DeArmond. The models that were included were Bluesbird, Starfire and Pilot Bass Series. Also in 2005, Fender came out with the Guild GAD Series acoustic guitars that were made in China.
Many talented and famous guitar players throughout the years have recognized the Guild guitar. Besides the ones mention earlier, some other Guild players are Bryan Adams, Johnny Cash, Sheryl Crow, John Denver, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Brian May, Slash, Bruce Springsteen, Stephen Stills, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Waits and Hank Williams III.
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